The bright stripes tags - free printable

I've been working on several printables lately and I wanted to make something with stripes.

I'm planning for something more elaborate, probable a party supplies pack, but my first attempt resulted in some simple tags with stripes in bright colors, just perfect for summer!

The tags come in three different colors.

The free e-book of pastel polkadots printables

After the free e-book of polkadots printables I posted as while ago, I've been working on a pastel version of the file. While I love the bright summery colors of the polkadots printables, I wanted to have an equally pretty but a bit more subdued alternative. 

It took me longer than expected, because instead of just changing the colors, I also added several sets of different printables. So, while the original e-book of polkadots printables has 35 pages, the pastel version has 48 pages of printables (yes, 48), filled with polkadots in four different pastel colors, so that you can pick your favorite or mix them all.

The free e-book of polkadots printables

I've always loved polkadots, and a while ago I decided to get creative (because I have lots of time to do that...not) and make some polkadots party printables. 

That was a little over a month ago and, in between, the project escalated and I found myself using the same pattern for a complete set of printables that includes everything from party material to notebook pages and planner printables. And so the e-book of polkadots printables was born. 

It's not really an e-book in the strict sense of the words, but it's a collection of 35 (yes, 35) pages of printables! All filled with polkadots and in four different bright colors, so that you can pick your favorite or mix and match.

Minions party pack - free printable

Hi everyone, today I'm sharing a printables party pack I made for a Minions birthday party at the request of a friend. 

 

DIY felt party favor baskets tutorial

We are still off work and enjoying the final days of our vacation. Next week the kids go back to school and a new year begins for all of us. 

On September 2nd, however, we will be celebrating my daughter's 5th birthday and I just wanted to show you the party favor baskets I made for her. And leave you with a small tutorial, in case you want to do something similar. 

Hello Kitty Party Pack - free printables

Hi everyone! It's Friday and I'm (almost) in weekend mode. Hopefully we'll finish painting the living room this weekend and then I can focus on my craft projects again.

In the meantime, I finally finished putting together the Hello Kitty party pack printables I made last spring for the birthday party of a friend's daughter who turned seven in May. I made them in two different computers over the course of several weeks, not to mention that the original ones were in Portuguese and I had to translate them to share here. So it took me while to get them all together in the same file and create an appropriate post. Ok, and let's be honest - because I had no real pressure anymore, I kept postponing working on them...

But finally, here they are. The original idea came to me via a paper tag that was hanging on a long sleeved t-shirt I bought for my daughter several months ago. That, coupled with the fact that the birthday girl in question loves Hello Kitty (who doesn't?), prompted me to create these printables. 

Upcycle: easy & inexpensive DIY napkin rings

...using cardboard tubes and washi tape!

These are perfect for summer! For backyard parties, birthday parties, tea parties or any other kind of party! They are virtually inexpensive, can be made in a matter of minutes and can be customized to match just about any decor you want. And if in the end they are lost or damaged? No big deal, you can just make more next time.

Lego party printables - part 4 - DIY favor bags

Hello everyone! I'm finally back with part 4 of the Lego party printables series, and this time I bring you a printable favor bag.

Lego party printables - part 3 - birthday invitations

Hi everyone, as promised I'm back with another installment in the Lego party free printables!

It took me a while, but the birthday invitations are ready! I tried and tested several designs and ended up deciding that simpler was better.

Lego party printables - part 2 - birthday banner

If you remember my post from earlier this week, this year we are having a Lego birthday party for my son. I've stated early because there are lots of details I want to make sure I have time for. Party printables are one of them.

So today I'm sharing the Lego happy birthday banner: 

You can download the pdf file here. The file has thirteen pages, one for each letter of the words "Happy Birthday". You just need to print it, cut out the rectangles and glue them directly on your wall.

If you prefer, you can also glue them over a piece of year and create a garland. I haven't done any of this yet, as it's still too son to start decorating (the party will be at the beginning of July), but I'll be sure to post some pictures closer to the date.

The background on the triangles isn't mine, I found it here via Pinterest.

And don't forget to download the Lego cupcake toppers here!

Have fun!

Lego party printables - part 1 - cupcake toppers

These past weeks have been slow in terms of crafting, but since I have less than a month and a half until my son's 8th birthday party (beginning of July), I decided I needed to start preparations on that front as well. This year we are going to have a Lego birthday party! 

I loved Legos when I was growing up and apparently my son has inherited that trait. We recently went to a Lego Fan Festival (I'll have to share those photos here one of these days), not to mention that we have a Lego city permanently installed in a corner of our living room (I wish I could move it to his room, but I'm pretty sure half of the constructions would not fare well traveling up the stairs...).

Anyway, this is just the first post of a series. This year I'm starting early on purpose because I want to make a banner, the invitations and some party favors. And I have a different set of cupcake toppers (this time with Lego faces) in the making as well. Let's see if I have enough time for everything I planned. 

And I'll share all the printables here in case anyone wants to use them too! If you want the Lego cupcake toppers, just download and print the pdf file here.

Have fun!

From plain to fabulous: upcycled gift package

We've been drowning on birthday parties. Maybe it's because it's spring, but apparently half of my kid's friends were born in April and May.

Last weekend we only had one birthday party, but the previous weekend we had four and we already have two more scheduled for next weekend. Let's just say I've been making and wrapping a lot of gifts.

A couple of weeks ago I shared a tutorial on how to make a gift bag out of a cereal box (missed it? it's here). It's been very useful, and I already have a few empty cereal boxes lined up to make more. Today I'm showing you how you can turn a plain cardboard box into a cute gift package.

Boxes are particularly useful to wrap fragile gifts and, in my opinion, better than wrapping paper or paper gift bags because recipients can reuse them (for storage, for example).

In my particular case, I was looking for a fun way to wrap this diary gift set:

(I posted about this diary gift set here, and you can find the tutorial here; it is an easy and fast handmade gift, especially for girls).

This was the starting point: one perfectly plain brown cardboard box that we received in the mail with something my husband ordered online.

It was the perfect size to fit the diary gift set inside, but too boring and plain, especially for the birthday party of a little girl turning eight.

So I went back to the scraps of glittery self adhesive paper (leftovers from the homemade Christmas cards) and cut some shapes. The only other things I used were a piece of purple tulle, also a leftover from last year's Halloween costumes and a bit of pink tissue paper. Here are the "ingredients":

I actually would have preferred purple glitter paper, but I didn't have any, so I went with pink instead. The rest was made using the silver glittery paper. Oh, and I used the Sizzix to cut the stars, but if you don't have one, print the shape you want and just trace it in the back of the paper (or use cookie cutter to trace the shapes, that works very well too).

Here's how it looked with just the glitter paper on:

I placed the tissue paper over the bottom of the box to carefully wrap the gift around it...

 ...and then tied the purple tulle around the box to close the opening:

This was the end result:

This is proof that a fabulous and professional looking gift wrap does not have to be expensive and there are lots of items around your house that can be repurposed for this. It saves you money and reduces clutter.

Don't have glitter paper? Use colorful cardboard shapes, glitter glue, regular wrapping paper or even magazine cutouts. Or go online and print cute and fun digital papers (Pinterest has loads of them, free for personal use). No tulle? Use fabric scraps, yarn scraps or matching ribbons. The possibilities are endless, you just need to stretch your imagination a bit.

Have a wonderful week!

upcycle: cereal box to gift bag (tutorial)

Today I bring you a very easy and useful upcycle idea. We have a lot of birthday parties coming up in the next two weeks and instead of buying a lot of gift bags, I decided to make my own, using cereal boxes and turning them into this:

Want to try it?

Here is what you need: an empty cereal box, wrapping paper + glue or self adhesive paper (I used self adhesive because I have a huge roll of it leftover from another project and I'm trying to declutter) and matching ribbon (for the bag handles).

First, cut the top flaps of the cereal box, so you're left with something that looks like this:

Start with one of the largest sides of the box and glue the paper:

Cut the paper at the top of the box as shown below. The extra paper is folded over and glued to the inside of the box:

Next, glue the sides:

 And finally the bottom and other large side of the box. You'll be left with this:

If you want, you can add a matching tag. I glued some leftover paper over a piece of pink cardboard (to be able to write a name or a message in the tag) and used the Sizzix to cut a flower shape:

tag front

tag back

Fold the sides of the box slightly towards the inside (only at the top), so that it starts to look more like a bag and less like a box:

Cut two pieces of ribbon, punch two holes at the top of each side of the box (measure to make sure they are centered). If you're adding a tag, punch a hole in it too, start threading the ribbons through the holes and tie a knot at each end of the ribbons, to keep them in place...

...so you're left with something like this in the end:

And you're done. You have one personalized gift bag at almost no cost, sturdier than most store bought paper gift bags.

Now, the next time you have an empty cereal box at home, remember you can turn it into something useful and cute instead of just throwing it away!

Enjoy,

Mini party favor box printable

I'm not a huge fan of giving candy favors at kids birthday parties but last week a friend asked for my help to put together some favor boxes for an all-girls party she was organizing and I had to agree.

After some brainstorming (and some not very good-looking samples you don't want to hear about) we decided on shape and then cut the box out of a cute gift wrap paper she had purchased.

They turned out nice enough and I decided to scan one of the non-assembled boxes, create a template and post about it here in case anyone wants to do something similar.

The link to download the template is at the bottom of this post and I suggest you print it directly on lightweight cardboard (since we originally used wrap paper we had to glue it on cardboard prior to cutting, but trust me, it takes a lot longer).

All you need to do is print the template...

...cut around the edges...

...fold it along the dotted lines...

...and add glue to the two side flaps to assemble the box:

And now you have one small favor box. Bear in mind that it is a small box, so only candy or little trinkets will fit in there. Just to give you a better idea of size, here it is in the palm of my hand:

My daughter decided she wanted one to store her ponytail holders (though she needs more like twenty boxes instead of one) and another for the Barbie shoes (those do fit well in there), which proves that the little boxes can be used for other things besides party favors.

Anyway, here is the template in case you want to download it.

Enjoy,